Leap of Faith: Mitzvah Day

One of the things I love about our Biblical characters is that they were imperfect. Sometimes, especially at times of eulogy, commentators focus on perfection. Rashi comments on Sarah’s age being written in the Torah as “a hundred years and twenty years and seven years” (Gen 23:1) – not 127 years, as “they are written out this way to show that all of these years were equal in goodness.”

A clearer reading of our ancient ancestors in the Torah is that no human life is perfect. We are created in the Divine image but we are not Divine ourselves. Sarah is not immune, as a biblical character, to actions that we might question.

We might be imperfect but I do like the idea of a legendary model in life, especially an imperfect one. I am sure that we have all found ourselves creating legends around a character, most usually a relative whom we loved dearly. These legends become aspects of our life that we try to emulate in our highest moments, not just occasionally but on a daily basis. In that way, we provide life after death for those we love. This is the kind of role that I see Mitzvah Day playing in our annual calendar.

Mitzvah Day has become an absolute phenomenon. It is praised by our politicians and justifiably held up as an exemplar for other segments of society. The Hindu Community have adopted it in their Sewa Day and the Muslim community with their Sadaqa Day. It is just one of the events that breed interfaith activity and understanding.

In my synagogue we have shared projects to bring joy to the lives of children in hospital and found ourselves in a field north of St Albans, planting trees for the Woodland Trust alongside Hindu families and youth groups. Our Kabbalat Torah class has joined the local Roman Catholic confirmation class collecting goods outside a supermarket for the Hillingdon Live at Home scheme. We have gathered spectacles for World Jewish Relief, toiletries for Jewish Women’s Aid and laptops for local refugees, as well as supporting the AJEX at the Cenotaph.

But what of Monday? Indeed, what of Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and so on throughout the year? Mitzvah Day is a true exemplar that has successfully demanded our attention and a place in our Jewish calendar. But its legend is created if it seeds in each of us the desire to perform mitzvot every day of the year.

The challenge that Mitzvah Day presents each of us is whether we can harness the enthusiasm for performing a mitzvah on one day, into a desire to volunteer one’s precious time and do small deeds on Monday.

This year, I was happy to return to my usual Mitzvah Day haunt, Croxley Common Moor, to go scrub-bashing. What was remarkable is that for a growing number and for me, this is not just an annual event; we volunteer there regularly. As the rabbinic dictum states, mitzvah goreret mitzvah – one mitzvah leads to another!